The first 'incident' occurred just before noon.
Cain pulled up his horse, a sturdy sorrel animal and swore under his breath.
Glitch stopped beside him, wearing what DG called his 'Cary Grant' hat that covered the zipper on his head. Thankfully, Orianah had been able to talk him out of the advisor's uniform and into more trail-sensible clothes. He was wearing dark trousers and a light jacket over a white shirt. "That's not good."
Below them was the Falisi, a normally quiet and meandering river that had been swollen by the previous night's rain. White caps peaked over the rocks hidden just below the surface. Tree trunks and various other bits of debris were being washed down in the ruddy current. It was a veritable obstacle course. Any other time, the water wouldn't have reached the horse's hocks. They were definitely getting their bellies wet today.
Cain felt his headache getting worse. Already, the light was too bright and he had that pain behind his eyes that always accompanied a bad night's sleep. Or a string of them.
Azkadellia had pulled up on Cain's other side. It was a bit odd to see her in loose fitting pants and a shirt borrowed from her father.
Cain nodded towards the river. "Anything you can do about that?"
"I'm not a water nymph." She said apologetically. "My power comes in the form of light and energy."
"I thought the great and terrible Witch could do anything." Cain seriously doubted Glitch meant for Azkadellia to hear.
She did. "First of all, that's not true. Second of all, any power I lost I was happy to give up . . .along with the old hag that possessed me."
Both Glitch and Cain sat shocked for a moment. Usually, Azkadellia walked on egg shells around Glitch, undoubtedly because of the guilt she felt. Apparently after eight straight hours of the cold shoulder Glitch saw fit to deal out, she was done playing nice.
Cain recovered. "Okay, so we do it the old-fashioned way. Azkadellia, you stay behind me. Glitch, bring up the rear. Stay upstream and don't get caught in those rapids." He pointed to where the water got rougher and faster. "They'll be no getting you out of there before the falls."
Glitch nodded mutely and Azkadellia took a firmer hold on her reins, looking nervous. Cain's horse began to descend the hill with her mount behind him. The sorrel splashed in easily and began picking his way along. Cain moved him a few steps in and then turned to watch the progress of his companions.
Azkadellia's little bay mare danced about on the bank for a few seconds before taking a flying leap and splashing into the current. The princess rode it out, but made a face as the cold water leaked into her shoes. Cain would swear Glitch's big gray charger turned up his nose pretentiously before delicately picking his way into the dirty water.
Nudging the sorrel, Cain gave the sure-footed animal his head and let him find his own route. It quickly became clear that the water was deeper than anticipated. The horses were sloshing through water halfway up their barrels. The thighs of Cain's pants were soaked.
He looked back again to check on Azkadellia. Her mount was a few inches shorter than his own and he could see that she was drenched from the waist down. "Are you okay?"
"It will take more than this to put me off. Mr. Cain." She shouted back.
She got it in the next instant. As Cain looked upstream, a massive old oak tree had been washed from the shore of the river and was barreling towards them broadside. Cain and Azkadellia were directly in its path.
"Azkadellia!"
She reacted quickly and threw out a hand, blasting the tree neatly in two with her magic. It broke with an ear-splitting crack, spooking Azkadellia's mount. The skittish mare reared straight back, struggling against the bridle and fell over on top of her rider.
Cain screamed her name again as the mare climbed to her feet, the saddle empty. About twenty feet downstream, she surfaced, sputtering and coughing, only to be hit by the trunk of the tree she had just demolished. Azkadellia went under again.
Cain wheeled his horse as Glitch clocked his soundly in the ribs. The gray bounded down the river, his long legs giving him the advantage over Cain's horse. "Do you see her?"
A flash of black hair caught Cain's eye. "There!"
Somehow, Azkadellia was conscious and had broken the surface of the water, coughing. Her hands reached out for boulders and limbs, anything that would keep her from the faster moving water. Cain could feel the current strengthening against his legs as he growled at the horse to move him on.
Glitch's horse lunged forward under its rider's skilled hand, water to his chest now. The current was pushing the horse's haunches sideways as Glitch pulled alongside Azkadellia and reached for her. She grabbed his arm and kicked, trying to propel herself to him as he braced in his saddle and pulled.
Cain was behind her now and reached for the leather belt she wore. With a yell to give himself strength against the current he picked her up and threw her to Glitch who pulled the princess into the saddle in front of him.
Together, Glitch and Cain urged the horse's forward as the sucking undercurrent tried to pull them back. With a great jump, Glitch's horse lurched up the bank as Cain's scrambled up behind him. Both animals were panting hard from the effort.
Not far away, Cain could see the Azkadellia's mare wandering among the trees. Seeing that Glitch was already pulling Azkadellia down from the horse, Cain headed towards the bay. The little horse nickered a greeting to Cain's sorrel. As he reached down from his saddle and gathered the reins, he resisted the urge to grumble nasty things about the mare's intelligence and her obvious relation to a stubborn little ass. She trotted contentedly behind him as they returned, apparently having her fill of adventure for one day.
Glitch had propped the princess against a tree and was kneeling beside her, albeit at a distance, and watching her closely. She was coughing and shaking, but alive and breathing. There was a beauty of a bruise flaring over her left eye and he could see her hands were torn and bleeding from where she had clawed at the rocks.
Cain stopped the horses alongside Glitch's and tethered them to some low hanging branches alongside the gray. Then, he unlashed the bedroll from behind his saddle. By some miracle, it was only a little damp. With long, quick strides he approached the other two and knelt down beside the pale princess to wrap the blankets around her. "Where does it hurt?"
Azkadellia was still dazed. "It doesn't."
"It will." Cain replied. "That was a hell of a fall."
"I know." She focused on him. "Thank you, Mr. Cain. And Ambrose, thank you, too. You saved my life."
"Yeah well." Glitch stood and brushed at the mud on his trousers. "DG would never forgive us if we let something happen to you."
He walked off without meeting Cain's eyes, heading towards the horses and beginning to run his hands over the gray's legs when he reached him, looking for injury.
"I told her to do it, you know." He turned back to look at Azkadellia. She was staring straight ahead, but unseeing. "I told her, 'He needs to pay for his insolence. Take what is most precious to him'."
It had been her idea to take half of Glitch's brain? Cain felt the anger rise in him. All along, he had pitied her. He had told himself that she was incapable of fending off the Witch or resisting her. It was the only thing that had made being in her presence tolerable. And Azkadellia had to be tolerated for the sake of his friendship with DG.
Was she telling him that she had conscious control during her possession? That all of those things that happened to Glitch, to Raw, and to his family, could have been stopped? His voice had a dangerous edge to it when he spoke. "Why would you tell her that?"
"It was the only thing I could think to do to save his life." Came the quiet reply.
There was a stab of confusion but the anger was slow to die down. He let her go on, unsure of what he should say.
"She wanted him dead, Mr. Cain." Azkadellia's voice broke a bit. "After he destroyed the plans for the Sun Seater, she was furious. Murderous. And I just. . .I remembered him. What a good person he was. I couldn't let her just kill him.
"And the old Witch loved it. She thought she was turning me when I suggested things like that." There was brief pause as she leaned back, the tears starting to flow. "I got so tired of the killing. So, I started to nudge her thoughts in different directions. Ideas that would giver her control without the killing."
Cain understood. "The Vapors."
"Very good." Azkadellia nodded. "And the Viewers. She wanted to annihilate them. I told her they would be useful for interrogation purposes to find the emerald. I knew she would never find it like that. My mother was too clever."
Azkadellia looked to her still-trembling hands. "Even your metal prison, Mr. Cain, was my idea."
He felt himself start, but managed to keep an even tone. "Why?"
She closed her eyes. "Do you remember the early years of the Resistance? What she would do to prisoners?"
He had heard the stories. Torture at the hands of the Witch had your praying for death. And this girl had had to watch all of those horrors unfold.
"I just saw so much killing. I wanted it to stop. What I didn't realize was that on most occasions, I was sentencing people to a fate worse than death. I always kept telling myself that if I held out a little longer, if I could minimize the damage, I could stop her. Or the Resistance would prevail. Someone would stop her." Azkadellia wiped her eyes. "I never thought it would take fifteen annuals. I really didn't."
He had never thought himself likely to forgive her. In his mind, she would always be at least partly responsible. But now, he felt that ebbing away. There was sympathy and something akin to respect taking its place. She had survived her own prison and kept hold of her wits to boot. It was not unlike what Cain had endured. His prison had been a metal hell, but in some ways, her prison had been worse. She had been trapped in her own body, only barely able to sway the horrible events that had taken place around her.
Sometimes, it was hard to remember that she was a victim and a survivor, too.
He was seeing that a little more clearly as he moved closer and knelt down in front of her. "I'm sure Glitch will understand what you did for him."
"Even if he doesn't, I can't blame him." Azkadellia took a breath to regain her composure. "I should have been stronger."
Her words struck a chord, but Cain cleared his throat to push on. "You want to keep going?"
She gave a sardonic, decidedly un-princess-like snort. "I'm on the wrong side of the river to quit now."
A/N: Two chapters in two days? Don't get used to that! LOL, I just really wanted to get this chapter out there.